TALLAHASSEE — Increased salaries for mental health professionals are critical if quality care is to continue, said members of several statewide mental health organizations. The members are meeting here this week to map lobbying strategies on mental health issues.

Counselors are paid far less than teachers, and the state has given minimal cost-of-living increases, according to figures prepared by the Florida Council for Community Mental Health, which organized the two-day conference. A counselor with a bachelor's degree starts at nearly $5,000 less a year than a teacher with the same education.

''We're losing good people to private industry and schools,'' said Bert Lacey, chairman of the council's legislative committee and director of the Lake/Sumter Mental Health Center.

Mental health advocates want the Legislature to approve a cost-of-living increase that would total about $22 million, said Chris Zeigler, executive director of the council. The Legislature has recommended $3.5 million.

Ziegler said if cost-of-living increases were adequate, mental health centers around the state would receive more equal funding. Equal funding was a major issue in last year's legislative session; $4 million was appropriated but Ziegler said it didn't go far enough to equalize the centers' funding.

Other issues discussed included:

-- Required insurance coverage for alcohol and drug abuse treatment to increase funding for community mental health programs. This bill (HB 236) would repeal a law that allows insurance carriers and health maintenance organizations to offer such coverage as an option and would require the coverage.

-- A $3 million appropriation for the continuity of care program that would mean 115 new case managers for the state's community mental health centers, 27 client managers in the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and 18 new community support centers for the mentally ill and their families.